Apparel



M. CARIDIS Feb. 2.3,` 1937.

APPAREL Filed July 29, 1955 INVENTOR Mme/U5 Cms/Dls ),)LJ-u, y al 1 Gum @dif/Lg A TTORNE Patented Feb. 23, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to apparel, and is particularly directed to certain new and novel improvements in means applicable to mens dress shirts and adapted to be connected with the Waist band of a nether garment, whereby to exert and maintain a relatively constant downward tension upon the shirt at the front thereof, and thus cause the bosom of the shirt to be held sufficiently taut between the shoulders and the waist line to avoid the heretofore objectionable puckering of the material and accompanying untidiness.

Among other objects are the following:

1. The provision of means, the cost of which is so triiiing as to readily allow same to be manufactured as an original part of the shirt;

2. The provision of means which, when attached to the shirt, will not result in injury thereto;

3. The provision of means which can be conveniently laundered with the shirt;

4. The provision of means which will be devoid of metallic or other hard objects, such as buttons or clasps;

5. The provision of means the application of which to the shirt will not detract from an intended neat and tidy appearance thereof at the waist band;

6. The construction of a device from a single piece of suitable material, which may either be of the same kind as the material of the shirt, hence of an inelastic nature, or, if desired, same may be formed either in whole or in part of garter elastic, whereby the shirt when attached to the trousers as intended will be free to yield relative to the trousers, thus affording more comfort to the user of the article;

7. The construction of a device from a single piece of material which can be folded to intended form and provided with a longitudinal series of button holes; and

8. The provision of a device which, in one embodiment of the invention, is formed of a single piece of material of a shape to provide an upper portion, the width of which greatly exceeds the width of the lower portion, thereby enabling said upper portion to be firmly stitched to the shirt in a manner to prevent serious strain upon the material of the shirt.

My invention comprehends other features of construction which, together with those specified, are fully described hereinafter and speciiically recited in the claims.

My invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a View in front elevation of the device showing same applied;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing one of the concealing flaps raised to expose the tab slot in the shirt;

Figure 3 is a vertical section on line 3-3 of Figure 1 Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the device is formed;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the device, partly folded;

Figure '7 is a perspective view of the device fully folded and equipped ready for application to the shirt;

Figure 8 is a transverse section on line 8-8 of Figure 7.

It is to be understood that the invention proposes the use of means primarily, if not entirely, designed for use in adapting the shoulder and neck portions of the garment to the shoulders of the wearer by exertion of suflicient downward pull upon the front of the shirt to hold same taut and thereby prevent unsightly and careless puckering of the bosom of the shirt.

The shirt 50, except for application thereto of the tabs 5l--5I, is of well known construction,

1 such as would be worn for dress purposes, and the lower part thereof tucked into the trousers 52 in the customary manner.

The tabs 5I each consist of a single elongated strip of suitable material which may either be of the same kind as that from which the shirt is made, or same may consist of a single strip of garter elastic capable of being stretched and affording a yielding connection between the shirt and the trousers waist band when the device is in use. The blank is cut to provide identical divisions 53-53, having broad width ends 54 and narrow connecting ends 55. The sides of each division 53 converge toward the ends 55 and the latter are joined together by an integral connecting portion 56 of the same width throughou In the process of converting 'the tab strip from the form (Figure 5) into the iinished product, the material of the strip is first folded medially along the longitudinal line 56a to thus provide identical two-ply portions 51-51. The folded strip is then turned on a diagonal line of fold 58 (see Figure 6) to dispose the portions 51-51 at right angles to each other. The material is then folded on itself, along the line 59, at the portion 56, to bring the portions 51-51 side by Vside and in the same general plane with each other, the medial fold lines 51a of the portions 51 confronting each other as shown in Figure 7. The two portions 51-51 are then tacked together by stitching at 60 at suitable spaced apart intervals to provide a vertical series of button holes B l. In addition thereto, the marginal long edges of the portions 51 are stitched together at 62. The device is thus characterized by the two-ply portions, the wide ends of which are adapted to be stitched at 63 with portions 51h of concealing aps 51o to the shirt 50 in positions to enable the narrow V-shaped multifold lower end of the device to be extended in back of the waistband of the trousers as shown in the accompanying drawing. When two such devices are attached to the shirt at points very close to the waistband of the trousers, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, they are vertically disposed along lines that will exert the intended downward pull upon the shirt from the shoulders, thus drawing the bosom taut to prevent overfullness of the shirt and cause the garment to snugly conform to the contour of the shoulders and neatly iit the neck. By providing each of the devices with a vertical series of buttonholes 6l, an appropriate one thereof can be engaged with a button at the waist band of the trousers in order that the desired degree of tension may be placed upon the shirt.

Aside from the simplicity of construction of the invention, its use for the purpose intended will be highly practical, and same, when applied to the shirt, will not result in straining or tearing the material when the device is buttoned to the waist band. The small V-ends at the lower end of the tabs when tucked into the trousers will have no portions thereof exposed where they might otherwise appear untidy or unsightly. It is, of course, understood that when the device is in use outside the shirt, the tabs may be engaged withthe buttons of the trousers at the waist band thereof. When, however, it is desired to use the tabs inside the shirt, said tabs can be passed through the slits 63a and engaged with similar buttons on an under garment. This may be desired in instances where the waist band of the trousers has no buttons or at times when the shirt is worn without a coat and it is not desired that the tabs be exposed to view.

I claim:

l. A shirt having its front portion adjacent to the waist line provided with alined slits; closure flaps for said slits; said flaps each comprising a piece of material folded upon itself to provide a narrow portion disposed above the slit and a portion of a size to extend downwardly over the slit to conceal the latter; and tabs having upper ends secured with the narrow portions of the aps to the shirt above the slits, each tab being formed to enable it to be threaded through its complementary slit from a position outside the shirt to a position inside of the shirt and being of a length to dispose its lower end at the waist band of a nether garment and formed for attachment to said garment at the waist band thereof.

2. A shirt having a front portion adjacent to the waist line provided with alined slits; closure flaps for said slits; and depending tabs having their upper ends secured to the shirt above the slits and beneath the flaps and freely insertable through the slits to be disposed either inside or outside the shirt and each being of a length adapted to extend to the waist band of a nether garment, said tabs each formed with means adapted when the tabs are disposed outside the shirt to engage with buttons at the waist band of said nether garment and adapted when disposed inside the shirt to be engaged with similar buttons on an under garment and adapted in either such use to exert a downward pull upon the shirt such as will hold the bosom taut.

MARIUS CARIDIS. 

